

THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



"Save Us from the Falsity." 



Stamford, Conn. 



To the Editor: 



In reading Feuchtersleben's "Health 

 and Suggestion" the other day I came 

 across a passage regarding Nature 

 Stn.lv which possibly you may not 

 have' come across. I copy it and send 

 it to you for what it is worth. Such 

 strong words from a man who, a half 

 century ago, was a leader in German 

 thought, some time professor in medi- 

 cine in the University of Vienna, and 

 who died in 1849, may be of some use 

 in vour missionary work. 



Very sincerely yours, 

 Chas. Morris Addison. 



which alone are truth, repose and 

 health. All sane spirits who have given 

 man the fruits of a pregnant solitude, 

 have nourished amid such feelings and 

 will ever think of nature with a deep 

 reverence. That Lessing had no feel- 

 ing for nature is a myth that grew out 

 of a foolish paradox. It is among 

 naturalists that you will find those 

 scholars who attain a great and serene 

 old age. As the intimate study of na- 

 ture, "if it is to prove fruitful, necessi- 

 tates a certain childlikeness of attitude 

 (such as we find in Howard and Nova- 

 lis) — even so it creates this quality in 

 those who pursue it and gives them 

 the boon of a second youth. 



And what can save us from the fal- 

 sity that surrounds us on all sides? 

 A deep joy in nature. The study of 

 nature produces an atmosphere in 

 which our deepest and subtlest selves 

 can be born and developed. If the ten- 

 der plant which is our spirit shrivels 

 and seres in the hot-house of society, 

 transplant it to an austere wilderness 

 and it will revive. Even the Epicurean 

 who has tasted every joy must finally 

 confess that those joys are the highest 

 which do not trouble the peace of the 

 soul. And these joys are two: the 

 contemplation of the soul and the con- 

 templation of nature. Nor is there any 

 fact of loftier and deeper significance 

 than this : that when the greatness and 

 loveliness of nature refresh the senses, 

 the spirit is elevated and enlarged. 

 You may say what you please in favor 

 of society. Assuredly it teaches man 

 his duty and there is nothing higher 

 than that. But only solitude will give 

 him content. The eye that gazes upon 

 the immeasurable blue of the heaven 

 or contemplates the glories of the mani- 

 colored earth, loses sight of the mean 

 anxieties that harass man in the mar- 

 ket-place. The thoughts of nature are 

 all lofty, and man's contemplations 

 may become like them. The ego be- 

 comes aware of its own littleness and 

 yet, with thoughts fixed on infinity, 

 finds its happiness in the eternal har- 

 mony of things. It learns justice of 

 nature's changeless laws — nature 

 which loves even when it destroys, in 



He Says, "There's Nothing In It." 

 We have found him. Among the 

 many words of commendation that 

 have come to us, some of which we 

 have printed from time to time, there 

 has arrived one unfavorable criticism. 

 The critic, alas, lives near home in 

 Sound Beach. He says that he has 

 carefully examined several copies of 

 The; Guide to Nature (sent him from 

 time to time as samples) and has come 

 to the conclusion that "the magazine is 

 no good — there's nothing in it." 



Regretfully, sorrowfully — and yet, as 

 always, frankly — we are forced to ad- 

 mit that the criticism is just and true — 

 for him. 



Music-Loving Animals. 



BY HARRIET E. WILSON (c. M. NO. 2101), 

 STORMSTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA. 



As a company of ladies were talking 

 about their past experiences, the minis- 

 ter came home with a deer. The sight 

 of the animal turned the talk toward 

 deer and other wild and domestic crea- 

 tures. One of the company told of her 

 brother's pet deer which finally ran wild 

 but occasionally came to seem them. She 

 and her sister were singing together one 

 day when the deer came half through 

 the door and listened to their voices, ap- 

 parently with pleasure, for when they 

 stopped singing he ran away. 



Mr. N., who has a deer park, calls 

 the deer by playing on a mouth organ. 

 Thev will all come around him ; they 



